My most recent apple!

Everybody knows “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Or at least we teach our kids this saying.
It turns out now “an apple a day keeps menopause woes away,” at least according to the Red Hot Mamas’ website, and some other recent news posts. Apples (along with many other fruits and vegetables) apparently help us fight (lessen) menopausal symptoms, and other websites advocate apple cider vinegar to help with menopausal symptoms. Not to mention these things help with weight gain and other chronic health conditions as we age.

Apples help alleviate PMS symptoms too, apparently. A “PMS Comfort” Website even has a Cinnamon Baked Apple recipe for women to make when they need to relieve PMS symptoms. From a perusal of these websites, it seems one of the things apples can do is reduce bloating and swelling.

To some extent I’m skeptical: what makes an apple better than a blueberry or a nice cold glass of water? I guess this simply reminds us that diet definitely matters at all stages of our reproductive life cycles. This also harks back to Paula Derry’s recent post about how the environment affects our bodies and what we put our bodies through matters, and Kati Bicknell’s latest post about the impacts of eating meat on fertility. What we put into our bodies matters too.

I guess it’s true that an apple a day is a good thing. But, how did the apple get some much hype anyway? Seriously, if there is one fruit that has become part of our daily lexicon it is the apple. . . . Adam and Eve’s apple, Johny Appleseed, Mom and Apple Pie, the Big Apple, the poison apples from from Snow White, you’re the apple of my eye, you’re sweet as apple pie, an apple for the teacher, an apple a day keeps the doctor away …. I guess it was a matter of time before apples made it to PMS and menopause.